The Health Secretary has today launched a consultation into plans for an opt-out organ donation system - urging families to overcome the "fatal reluctance" to talk about donations.

Jeremy Hunt said people need to have an open conversation and make their wishes clear to relatives in order to save the lives of patients waiting for a transplant.

The consultation will examine issues including how much say a family should have over a person's decision to donate their organs, how different groups will be affected by the new system and when exemptions to "opt-out" might be needed.

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Prime Minister Theresa May announced in October that the Government will shift towards an organ donation system in England which presumes consent.

But some critics say individual patients should give their own consent - while a similar move by Gordon Brown was scrapped in 2008 after a taskforce examining the scheme "found no convincing evidence that it would deliver significant increases in the number of donated organs”.

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Mr Hunt said: "Every day three people die for want of a transplant, which is why our historic plans to transform the way organ donation works are so important.

"We want as many people as possible to have their say as we shape the new opt-out process.

Jeremy Hunt

"But as well as changing the law, we also need to change the conversation - it can be a difficult subject to broach, but overcoming this fatal reluctance to talk openly about our wishes is key to saving many more lives in the future."

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Around 6,500 people are currently waiting for a transplant in the UK, but in the past year 1,100 families decided not to allow organ donation because they were unsure or did not know whether their relatives would have wanted to donate, according to NHS Blood and Transplant.

While 80% of people say they would be willing to donate their organs, only 36% are officially registered and just half of adults on the register have discussed their wishes with a family member, the Department for Health said.